Free Republic

FERGUSON, Missouri – A federal judge ruled Thursday that police can no longer use tear gas on protesters without declaring an illegal assembly, giving them fair warning and time to vacate the area.

The downturn in crude oil prices in recent months will not last forever, and what the market is experiencing now is not the old boom and bust period, an energy industry analyst told Rigzone. “I’m still incredibly bullish on the industry, and I do think it’s far more stable and resilient than it was in decades past,” KPMG’s Regina Mayor, an advisor for the consulting practice, said. “That’s not to say that it won’t experience a contraction or two, but it’s not the boom and bust cycle we’ve seen.” Already, there are signs that the future remains bright for the...

The Wall Street Journal's Beth Reinhard chatted with Americans for Tax Reform's Grover Norquist about Jeb Bush's refusal to sign Norquiest's pledge never to raise taxes and his comments a few years ago that he could support a deficit reduction deal that entailed $1 in tax increases to every $10 in spending cuts: ....Mr. Norquist said the 2012 hearing came at a time when “Republicans were all holding out on not raising taxes, and he was a guy from Florida, a former, washed-up politician from Florida not involved in that fight…and he jumps in says, ‘I’d raise taxes.’ You’re either...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that...

Even though school officials postponed implementing the curriculum from its initial August launch date to January, the full rejection of the course that was spearheaded by the giant Christian retail chain came as a surprise to many, especially after the school district unanimously voted (4-0) to adopt the Bible history curriculum earlier this year. One of the chief opponents to implementing the Bible curriculum from the onset of the proposal has been the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), an atheist group that has gained a reputation for striving to eliminate all vestiges of America’s Christian heritage in the public schools....

The congressman speaks with Jim Rutenberg about the “I-word” and showing Gov. Chris Christie the ropes in Iowa. Your outspoken nature has drawn national attention, especially on Twitter. You and your wife have had some fun reading the nastier tweets in public. Any favorites? One said I smelled like “mothballs and dusty Bibles,” or something like that. (SNIP) We picked up 15 seats in the House and maybe nine in the Senate. That’s the kind of punishment I can handle. (SNIP) Whatever kind of crisis emerges, the agenda that they have long advocated for magically becomes the silver bullet for...

Shortly after House Speaker John Boehner promised on Thursday to challenge President Barack Obama's immigration executive action, White House officials detailed how they plan to move forward on it. Immigrants should be able to start applying for deportation relief and work permits in the middle of May and February, Leon Rodriguez, Citizenship and Immigration Services director told Spanish-speaking reporters in a conference call. First up will be those applying for expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Then, parents of U.S. citizens and legal resident children should be able to begin applying in May. Despite discussions about blocking the...

Writing for the Christian Post, Melissa Barnhart notes that, "The Rev. Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritans Purse, says the government's attacks against Christianity and bans on traditional Christmas themes while society glorifies sin is 'like little children shaking their fist at Almighty God.' 'What's happening is we're glorifying sin, we're lifting up sin. And it's like little children shaking their fist at Almighty God,' Graham told Fox News host Megyn Kelly during a Wednesday segment of 'The Kelly File.' Speaking about atheists and secularists' actions to ban celebrations of Christmas in schools and government...

LIMA, Peru — Wilfredo Saavedra, a former Marxist rebel, led a convoy of some 300 activists from Peru’s northern sierra, wearing an anti-mining T-shirt and Cuban baseball cap. Jim Chomicz, 70, from Birmingham, Alabama, flew here with a church group to learn more about melting glaciers. But for many of their Latin American counterparts, it is all about toppling capitalism, which they blame for the environmental degradation. “Capitalism is the creator of all of these changes to the climate,” said Mr. Saavedra. At a march this week, Ibis Fernández, a Peruvian union leader and organizer of the People’s Climate Summit,...

3 shot outside of high school in Portland. 3 victims, no fatalities yet. Shooter is being hunted by police. May be gang shooting.

This left-wing publication is calling for a boycott of the following "right-wing" companies. After reading their writeups on each, i plan visiting them more!

Consider this warning that recently greeted viewers of ABC's political soap opera, Scandal: "The following drama contains adult content. Viewer discretion is advised." That label was slapped on the episode because of scenes like the moment when trained torturer Huck prepared to ply his trade on colleague (and soon-to-be girlfriend) Quinn Perkins. "Normally, I'd start with the drill or a scalpel," he told Perkins, who was bound and gagged, looking on in terror. "Peeling off the skin can be beautiful. Or removing fingers, toes; I like the feeling of a toe being separated from a foot. ... I'm so sorry,...

Things are pretty volatile in the Chaos Caucus. Every since Republicans took over the Assembly, things have been anything but smooth. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise. After all, even the GOP itself didn’t expect to be in charge of the lower house, and the last time the party was in charge, Ronald Reagan was in the White House and the pinnacle of technology was the Apple IIe desktop computer. You already know about the disastrous election of Ira Hansen, R-Sparks, as speaker. He was undone by ugly sentiments penned in a Sparks newspaper over a long career as...

Those Catholics who are seeking and hoping to "ordain" women are working within a hermeneutic of revolution. Rose Marie Dunn Hudson and Elsie Hainz McGrath kneel before Patricia Fresen, center, during a ceremony in November 2007 "ordaining" them into a group called the Roman Catholic Womenpriests at a St. Louis synagogue called Central Reform Congregation. (CNS photo/Karen Elshout) Eleven years ago Christine Mayr Lumetzberger was excommunicated because she attempted to be ordained as a Catholic priest. A mischievous and misleading article by British journalist Peter Stanford entitled “Meet the Female Priest Defying Catholicism for her Faith" recounts her story.  Ms....

Scott Stapp Relatives Panic He's Out to Kill Obama [911 Tape] Scott Stapp threatened to assassinate President Obama ... and his alarmed wife and sister-in-law made a desperate 911 call to stop him. Scott had just gone AWOL from a mental facility late last month, when his sister-in-law told the 911 dispatcher he was cruising around his neighborhood, shirtless on a bicycle. She says the former Creed frontman claimed to be a CIA agent and his mission was to kill Obama. Stapp claimed in a rambling video the IRS is trying to ruin his life because he's been trashing Obama....

OKLAHOMA CITY – Formal charges are pending against a high-profile abortion doctor in the metro. Now, one of his former patients breaks her silence over what she calls ‘the worst experience of her life.’ Dr. Patel was arrested earlier this week for fraud. Investigators say he lied to women in order to charge them more for abortions that were, at times, unnecessary. Unlike the undercover agents Patel falsely identified as pregnant, this woman was pregnant when she went to his office. She also has a heart condition that was making it a very difficult pregnancy. She claims Dr. Patel lied...

As the debate rages on Capitol Hill about how to defund President Obama's executive action that gives legal status to 5 million illegal immigrants, it's important to take a look at where the funding for his new amnesty program is coming from. The funding for Obama's executive action is coming through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, a fee, not tax based agency under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security. Because the USCIS is a fee based agency, many have argued Congress cannot defund it. According to the Congressional Research Service, Congress does in fact have the ability to defund the...

Health advocates are blasting provisions in federal funding legislation that are seen as dialing back school nutrition standards, even as the White House seeks to downplay the riders as “minor adjustments” to the first lady’s signature policy. The bill known as “cromnibus,” contains language that would allow states to exempt struggling districts from having to offer all whole grain products and eases requirements for schools to reduce sodium levels. Critics who lobbied against more restrictive nutrition rules hailed the language as a win. The American Heart Association, meanwhile, worries the changes will open the door for more legislation that will...

The Democratic Party’s losses at the state level are almost unprecedented, and could cripple it for a long time to come. "........With that said, there are more costs to Democratic weakness in the states than just House elections. States are where parties build talent and try new ideas. Here, the GOP is instructive. Its brightest stars are either governors (Scott Walker, John Kasich, and Chris Christie) or former state officeholders (Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Joni Ernst). And Republican-controlled statehouses have been incubators for conservative ideas, from experiments in tax cutting (Bobby Jindal’s Louisiana and Sam Brownback’s Kansas) to full-fledged...

MANCHESTER — Direct state funding to Planned Parenthood jumped more than three-fold over the last two years, an anti-abortion group claimed this week after obtaining access to financial records of the three-state organization, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. New Hampshire Right to Life questioned the hefty increases and said Planned Parenthood’s revenue jump could be attributed to state appropriations for family planning activities, which jumped from $345,000 in 2013 to $894,000 in the current budget year. But a spokesman for Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan said the increases offset significant budget cuts of four years ago. At the time, Republicans...